 |  |
promise, Numb. 14: tells us that the argument of Caleb and Joshua was based on
`delighting' not `despising'.
"If the LORD delight in us, then He will bring us into this land, and give it us"
(Numb. 14: 8).
The true seed may for a time become envious at the prosperity of the wicked, but will
ultimately exclaim with Asaph:
"There is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee" (Psa. 73: 25),
the word `desire' being the same in the original as the word `delight' even as at last,
when Israel are restored and blessed, her name shall be Hephzi-bah `My delight is in her'
(Isa. 62: 4), and the land itself will be `a delightsome (chephets) land' (Mal. 3: 12). The
true seed `glory' in the Lord, they are full of praise and thanksgiving where the false seed
murmur and despise the evidences of divine pleasure and purpose. It is usually a bad
thing for a preacher even to seek to know how far his ministry is acceptable to his
hearers, it being wisest to seek a conscience void of offence, do all to the glory of God,
seek honestly the blessing of the hearer and leave all the rest in the hand of God. But, on
one occasion, after having conducted a series of studies on the epistle to the Ephesians,
the leader of the meeting said to the present writer, `You do glory in your calling, don't
you?' and for this unsolicited testimony we gave thanks, for it is just exactly in line with
what we have seen, that the true seed delights in the things of God, whereas, in many
instances, the false seed but despise them. We could pursue this theme further. Perhaps
one outstanding passage in the N.T. should at least be mentioned and that is in II Pet. 3:
`There shall come in the last days SCOFFERS' and it will be remembered that Psa. 1:,
which most clearly divides the true from the false, puts in contrast `The seat of the
SCORNFUL' with the man whose `DELIGHT is in the law of the Lord' (Psa. 1: 1, 2).
The day of harvest manifests the one by its fruit in its season, saying, `the ungodly are not
so, but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away'. Despising, scorning, lightly
esteeming, the evil seed but anticipate the day when by their fruits they will make
manifest that they are but the tares whose end is to be destroyed. Let those who have any
evidence in their hearts and lives that such a destiny does not await them, remember
afresh that none are numbered among the true seed because of anything that they have
done, but that the favour manifested in their election to such an honour is all of
unconditioned mercy and of sovereign grace.